This is Yeshua’s final meal, a Passover Seder, with those that have followed Him during the previous three or four years, so what He is about to say to them is extremely important. Let’s continue in John 14, starting with verse 18: He says, I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. You know, it’s not easy to raise kids. Raising children is hard, even for two parents. It’s even harder for single parents, and Martha and I sometimes wonder how they do it! And hardest of all is being raised as an orphan without any parents. Knowing this, Yeshua promises that He will not abandon His disciples so that they are like orphans – without proper supervision and guidance, unprotected, impoverished, not able to survive in the world’s hostile environment.

He promises to come for His disciples, and He will come to them in three ways: After His resurrection, in just a few days, He will come to them in His new glorified body.

Then, some 50 days later, He will come to them by means of His Spirit, which will indwell the disciples and all Messianic Believers.

Finally, Yeshua will come for them at the Second Coming, when those who died believing in Messiah will be raised, and those believers who are alive at that time, will be given their own eternal bodies, and will be in the presence of God and Messiah forever.

Yeshua continues: After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; In just a very short time I will be invisible to the world, but I will remain visible to you. I will be physically visible to you, because after I come back to life I will remain on Earth for forty days, showing Myself to you, teaching you, preparing you to take over My task. After that I will still be visible to you, but you will have to rely on your spiritual sight to see Me. Those who are part of this fallen world system, and who are alienated from God, don’t have spiritual sight. And so they are likewise blind to Me. But you will know that I am alive, and so you will see Me in that sense, with your spiritual eyes – by the sight that faith gives.

And, we since will share the same Spirit, and the same destiny, therefore we will share the same life. because I live, you will live also. I will overcome death. I will come back to life. I will be alive forever, and since you are identified with Me and you have joined yourselves to Me by placing your faith in Me, you will live too! You have my promise about that.

50 days from now, after My resurrection, and the coming and the indwelling of My Spirit in you, in that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. You see, I am the one and only mediator through whom God and mankind can be reconnected. When My Spirit, who is also the Spirit of God the Father, dwells in you, then we will all share the same Spirit.

Then God, and Me – the Son of God and you – the children of God, will have the kind of close and intimate and personal relationship and a sharing of nature that was intended from before eternity. There will be a unity between us of love and relationship and nature that will bind us together for all eternity.

He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; Don’t fool or deceive yourselves. There will be a lot of false Christians, nominal Messianic Jews, who claim to know Me, and be My disciples, but I’m telling you now that they aren’t. A human being has to know what I demand, and then do it, to truly love Me. You must truly become My students. You must study My commandments, My teachings, and practice them.

What are Yeshua’s commandments? He is asking us to do what He has always asked us to do – the commands found in the Torah.  However, not all 613 commands in the Torah are meant to apply to everybody. Not everyone needs to be circumcised. There are laws that only apply to priests, but not to the rest of Israel. There are laws that only apply to the High Priest, but no one else. For example, the High Priest couldn’t marry a divorced woman or a widow, whereas a regular Israeli could. There are laws that only apply to the king (like writing his own copy of the Torah). There are laws that apply to men and not to women. All of the laws directly apply to the Jewish people, but not all apply to those from other nations. All of us are to fulfill His commands, but the requirements of the Law are different.

So what relationship does the Gentile Christian have to the 613 laws of the Torah? The book of Acts records that Messiah’s Emissaries (the Apostles) and the Elders of Messiah’s Holy Community met to decide this very issue. According to the binding decision issued by the Emissaries and Elders, guided and inspired by the Holy Spirit, apart from saving faith in Messiah Yeshua, only four things are obligatory for Gentile Christians to observe (see Acts 15, especially verses 19-20, 28-29). It was also expected that every human being would obey the Moral Laws – laws such as not murdering, not stealing, and not committing adultery. These are laws which God has written on everyone’s heart (see Romans 2:14-15).

All of us – Jews and Gentiles, must fulfill Yeshua’s commands, like the greatest commandment, that you love God above all else, with all your being. God must come first before everyone and everything! And, we must love those human beings that God has placed around us, even if they are difficult to love. Each one of us must pick up our cross, and reject the world’s corrupt and twisted values. We must be men and women of mercy, people of integrity and godly character.

So, we must show we love Yeshua by obeying Him. And there’s more – he who loves Me will be loved by My Father – how wonderful, how blessed, to be loved and accepted by the glorious Creator of the universe! And let me suggest that the opposite is true – that the person that does not love Yeshua – Jew or Gentile – will not be loved by God, with a fatherly love, a love of acceptance and embrace.

You mean Rabbi Loren, that God doesn’t love every human being? Well, yes, in one sense He does love every human being. They are made in His image, and they are therefore precious and valuable, but at the same time they are dangerous. God loves human beings, just as you may love a dog, but if that dog develops rabies, and becomes dangerous to others, you might have to have that dog put down and destroyed.

Some years ago my parents had a ferret named Alfie. Alfie was cute, and was house trained, and was allowed to run around the house. He would climb up in the closets, and burrow under the bed covers, but Alfie had an annoying habit – occasionally he would come out and nip the back your foot – around your heel! And, it hurt! At first he wasn’t too bad – he mostly bit my father, and only on occasion, but after a while the bites became more frequent, and he bit more and more people. Well, when Ari, the first grandchild, came along, my parents decided that although they loved Alfie, it was time for Alfie to go.

Like a mean, nasty ferret, or a rabid dog, human beings have been corrupted by sin and are dangerous, and are of no ultimate use to God if they will not allow Him to cure them of their terrible and deadly spiritual disease.

So, here’s what must be done. God the Father loved this planet full of corrupted, dangerous human beings enough that He sent His Son, Yeshua the Messiah, to show us who God really is, and to redeem us, and to restore us to the Father, and to heal us from sin and death. We must love Yeshua and receive Him and commit our lives to Him and obey Him. Then, and only then, God the Father is able to fully love us and receive us to Himself.

And, if we truly love Messiah Yeshua, and prove that we do by obeying Him, the Son of God promises to respond to our love for Him: and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

Among human beings, when you love someone, and they respond to your love, and love you in return, that wonderful, and it’s natural to want to get even closer to them, to share more of yourself with them, to reveal more of yourself to them. Even so, the Son of God promises to respond to those who love Him by drawing closer to them, becoming even more intimate with them, and by revealing even more about Himself to them, giving us ever greater glimpses of His wisdom and power and glory.

Well, these declarations caused some confusion: Judas (not Iscariot – and probably the apostle Thaddaeus, or some other disciple who was there) said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Yeshua – Master, I don’t understand – what is this private disclosure that you are talking about? Aren’t You the Messiah, the King of Israel, who is soon going to be revealed to all of the nations of the world?

Yeshua answered and said to him, “No Judas, I am not going to reveal Myself to the entire world right now. That will have to wait for a couple thousand years, at My Second Coming.

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. I am limiting My self-disclosure to only the ones who truly love Me, and prove it by obeying Me. Then, not only I, but God, who is My Father, the Two of Us, since We are One and yet Two, we will drawer closer to than man, that woman, and reveal more of who We are to him, to her. And, we will make our home with him. It’s will be like living in the same home together, like a close and loving family. That’s the self-disclosure that I am planing, Judas.

Do you want a more exciting spiritual life? You want greater spirituality? You want a better understanding of God and His Word? You want greater spiritual experiences? Don’t seek for new spiritual experiences, empowerments, releases, anointings, signs, wonders, miracles or doubtful revivals, so that you place yourself under the influence of questionable men and ministries who have caught the public fancy with over-night popularity.

Spend more time learning about Yeshua, studying His life, His teachings, and then obey Him. Then He and God the Father will drawer closer, and reveal more to you.

He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. So, this teaching which we are getting right now,  comes from the Highest Authority, from God the Father, through the Clearest Channel – God the Son, through a Reliable Messenger – the Emissary John, to us. Do you think it can get any more true, any more reliable, any more authoritative?

These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you – here on Earth, in the flesh. And that’s great, to have the eternal and wise Son of God, who came from Heaven, here with you, teaching you, telling you the things that you need to know. What a blessing! Great prophets of old longed to see Me here on Earth! But the Helper, the One who gives the same kind of help that I have given to you while I was here in Person while on Planet Earth, helping and comforting you, advising and correcting you, teaching and strengthening and encouraging you, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name – to those who believe in Me, to those who place their faith in Me, who will represent Me, who will carry on My same work, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

The Special and Unique Spirit of God, who is also My Spirit, will continue My same ministry to you, but from inside of you, carrying on My work, but from within you, in a deeper and greater way than was possible before. I will still be your Rabbi and Teacher and Helper and Friend. When you need to be taught something, when you need advice, when you need comfort, when you ask for wisdom, I will instantly know it, and My Spirit will start teaching you, and call your attention to the Word of God, and illuminate those passages. But for this to work, you need to make sure that you know what I have said to you, so study My teachings, study the Word of God, so that My Spirit can bring My teachings to your memory and instruct you through them. So, make sure you read the Word of God, and keep it fresh, so that My Spirit can teach you, applying these things to your lives and the various situations and circumstances that you will encounter.

I will still be with you – not bodily, not physically, but nevertheless My presence with be with you from the inside. I will join My Spirit to you, and live from within you.

And, I have another parting gift to give you – a new measure of the peace of God: Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. The world can only offer you the temporary absence of conflict, not the positive state of wholeness and completeness that I can give you; the kind of peace that goes to the very depths of the soul, giving one a sense of well-being, even in the most difficult circumstances.

The peace that I give you comes from knowing that you are right with God, that He accepts you, that He is your Father who loves you, that He will provide for you, and enable you to live forever, and that you are eternally safe – that no force in the universe can separate you from Him, even death, so that you can trust Him in all situations.

Therefore, do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You can control your heart. If you trust Me, that I have given you My peace, and therefore you must have it, and if you fill your mind with this truth, then your heart, your inner being, doesn’t need to be troubled or fearful. You can be bold and confident and strong no matter the situation.

You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ I said before that I am leaving, but I am also returning. I know the thought of My leaving you fills you with sadness, but if you looked at things from My perspective, and what is best for Me personally, and if you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I am going to a far better place, the best place in the universe to be – in the presence of My God, enjoying My Father’s glory and power and magnificence. It can be a good thing to be in the presence of someone who is greater than you, and My Father is greater than I am – not in nature, for we share the same nature of God, but He is greater in position. He is the Father, and I am the Son. He sits on His throne, and I have my own throne which is at His right hand. He issues the command, and I carry out His will and word. Ah, what a great place to be – so much better than here in this world that lies under a curse, polluted by sin. You should be happy for Me!

Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. None of the events that are going to happen very soon are a surprise to Me. This is all part of the predetermined plan of God, to bring about your redemption. I am giving you this advanced warning so that you will know that I knew all this, including My death – and your faith in Me will be strengthened, so don’t get too discouraged!

But time is very short. I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world  – Satan, the head of the fallen angels, who runs pretty much everything on Earth – according his corrupted and twisted values, is coming, and he has nothing in Me; I am allowing Myself to be killed by him, but the reality is that he has no legal right to put me to death, because I am perfectly innocent, and I am sinless. I am guilty of no crime, no wrong-doing, no sin. There is nothing that he can use against Me.

But, I am willing giving up My life so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. I am willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, and this will teach the world that I fully and completely love the Father and My death and resurrection will show to the world that I do exactly what my Father has commanded Me.

At this point, Yeshua proposes that they leave the upper room in Jerusalem, and so He says, “Get up, let us go from here.”